First, Social Security has a dedicated funding source even if the figures are starting to go South on that so you might be able to count the deficit from that but not the entire amount which is a sizable portion of those figures. Medicare and Medicaid (which I might point out to you is the field I work in) are two of the most efficient governmental programs running today. Compared to the cost of private health organizations if they were providing the care to those folks, the costs are surprisingly low. Just how would you trim those, let the folks those programs service just die on the streets?

Military brings in no money unless you count the profits from the defense industry but in the end it's a net output because you're creating expendables with no tangible benefit to the growth of our nation. It's not like you build a bomb, plant it in the ground, and feed people off of it. It destroys things and then it seems we get stuck with the tab to rebuild it all later. Not exactly the best of economic formulas.

If you argue that it is somehow related to adding commerce by keeping our borders secure well I'm not sure you want to go there. That portion would be pretty cheap compared with being the policeman to the world and we're certainly not accomplishing that task with the military we have now.

It's fine to whine about entitlements but I've heard of no plans to get rid of them that doesn't cause widespread death, poverty, and disease. Personal retirement savings accounts that your team proposes would all be wiped clean by the "correction" Wall Street's going through right now.

You want financial fixes, cut our military in half, stop trying to control the world and stop being so friggin greedy. Most of our woes would simply vanish.

Art